Secret Of The Urn

Secret of the Urn has a dramatic beginning. Kinnosuke Nakamura as Samanosuke betrays a friend and then in turn is betrayed by his own clan. As a result he not only loses an eye but an arm as well. He then becomes the ronin called Tange Sazen, which was a popular character in several other samurai films from this period. Here Nakamura plays him as a kind of rogue anarchist seeking to disturb the order of samurai society.The actual story is about an urn full of money that the Yagyu clan has to find to fund a renovation ordered by the Shogunate otherwise it will be wiped out. The Shogunate on the other hand wants the demise of the clan to seize its land. This leads to all kinds of action and intrigue from ninja to thieves.The script was written by Hideo Gosha who was known for going for the swordplay over the drama that was common in most period pieces.If you want pure samurai action The Secret of the Urn is the perfect place to start. It's not your usual Japanese film that put the action secondary to the drama.C

Great Samurai film about a classic Japanese character. Kinnosuke Nakamura is never better in his role as Tange Sazen, the one-eyed, one-armed swordsman, in a film directed by Hideo Gosha, who is well known to be one of the best Samurai film directors in Japan.This 1966 version of the often-filmed Tange Sazen is possibly the best one of the lot. The acting, the sword fighting, the characters, the story, when compared to the other films from the past 8 decades, is hard to surpass.Kinnosuke Nakamura also starred in another AnimEigo release, the 5-film/5-disc set "Miyamoto Musashi" series. As usual, he is in top form as Tange Sazen. His sword fighting skills are a joy to watch, slashing and slicing with one hand.

When I was growing up in Hawaii, we had several Japanese movie theaters showing samurai films with English subtitles. Kinnosuke Nakamura was one of the handsome leading men the girls went back to see over and over again. In Secret of the Urn, he plays a one-eyed/one-armed ronin (masterless samurai) with a big chip on his remaining shoulder - hard drinking, whoring and rough voiced (how does he keep his kimono so white?). But when the camera turns to his unscarred side, you can see that he is still a handsome man and very fit. The movie is typical of the genre, with humorous insults, goofy characters, noble/honorable/dishonorable conduct, gangs of swordsmen being routed by our lone hero and good wins out in the end. Kudos to the producers of the DVD for a clear transfer of images and sound from the film. In addition to English subtitles along the bottom, there are helpful definitions of terminology displayed along the top, repeated in the Extras. The Extras-which I did not even expect to have for this old film-also include a few bios of the stars and writer, and a still photo gallery.

A very entertaining samurai yarn. This story has apparently been made several times with varying details and approaches. This version takes a middle road, being more drama than comedy. The sword fights are good, and production values of high quality.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Put me in the mindset of Yojimbo, or Sanjuro.

Great

A little slow (Japanese style) but enjoyable. Sword fighting is very brutal and I always marveled at how well the actors portray it without serious injury.

Not Impressed, and I like cheap Popcorn Samurai flicks